We first got to know astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson when he hosted the Fox documentary series Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey. But his latest stunt is truly out-of-this-world brilliant.

Tyson was lecturing at the College of the Holy Cross in Worchester, Massachusetts, when a 6-year-old girl asked what first-graders can do to help the Earth. What follows is a fist-pumping dialogue about why kids should be allowed to explore:

"If it's raining out and there's a big puddle, what do you want to do with that puddle?" he asks.

"Jump in it," she replies.

Tyson quips: "Just tell your parents that they're experiments, and you want to become a scientist, and then they won't stop you from doing anything you want."

More women in science? Now that's a parenting philosophy we can get behind.